Help with bloat recovery !

[Ali P]

My piggie had bloat on Wed night ( 3 days ago). I managed it overnight with infacol and massage. Saw the vet in the morning who put her on birp 0.5ML 4 times a day.( similar to infacol but for cows...apparently it has worked brilliantly on other pigs). Also metacam 0.3ml and cisapride 0.1ml both twice a day . She is only on hay now and after a slight improvement and reduction in gas she has now plateaued .She id happy in herself ad pooping etc ,. She wheeking alot for veg yesterday but is bit quieter today. I think she is a bit depressed but the lack of veg and constant medication regime. Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of the gas. I am getting desperate!

 

[Abi_nurse]

Hey. Sorry your having a bad time. Best regime for bloat is usually the following (everyone if slightly different but this has worked well for us)
- metacam (at a higher dose than you have unless your piggie is small)
- metoclopramide three times a day
- Zantac (rantitidine) three times a day
- cisapride three times a day
- sloppy syringe feeding 10ml minimal at each feed five times a day
- encouraged exercise to aid gut motility
- in some cases more pain relief if necessary

Hope she can improve.

 

[Ali P]

Thanks you for the reply it looks quite daunting ! She is eating hay on her own so does she still need syringe feeding ? Its such alot too she is very resistant to this so I have had quite a hard time with it.
Are all the motility drugs to move the gas? I am going to call the vet today ...should I just suggest all these meds? This seems to be the problem now.The gas is all just sitting there .And of course the big question...what causes it !

 

[Mother Hubbard]

I've used an electric toothbrush for the vibration to help move the gas.

 

[Ali P]

Funny enough I started to try this this afternoon too as couldn't find a vibrating pad anywhere!

 

[Abi_nurse]

Thanks you for the reply it looks quite daunting ! She is eating hay on her own so does she still need syringe feeding ? Its such alot too she is very resistant to this so I have had quite a hard time with it.
Are all the motility drugs to move the gas? I am going to call the vet today ...should I just suggest all these meds? This seems to be the problem now.The gas is all just sitting there .And of course the big question...what causes it !

It can be daunting if your not used to it. The three pro kinetics is to get the gas moving through. It really depends on how bad the gas is. Has she had an X-ray to determine it? It depends on how bad it is on how many you choose to use. If it's in her stomach I would be using metoclopramide. And the Zantac works on all the GI tract whereas the cispride only really works on the hind gut. The gas can only go through and not come back up so you need to drugs to help push it through.

How much hay is she eating? If it's a normal amount then perhaps no syringe feeding but if only a little I would look at feeding a few times a day it helps with the guts motility too.

As for why, often you cannot find out why. Other times it can be secondary to breathing issues or poor GI bacteria balanace.

 

[Ali P]

I saw my vet again today and she was reluctant to give all 3 as she thought it could have the opposite affect . Her bloat is down by about half of what it was on Wed so that is good. She is eating a fair bit of hay on her own and I am doing a cc feed ( small one ) about 3/4 times a day to top up . I was also worried about hydration as she was barely drinking anything and only have dry food so hopefully the cc helps with that and I syringe her some water each feed. She is weeing very little.The vet said I could try her on a few nuggets tonight is she is getting a bit fed up with hay and also has lost a little weight. Yesterday she was desperate for veg bless her and wheeking on and off ! Thank you for your support and advice. It always helps when you are in these difficult times with your pig.

 

[Abi_nurse]

How your piggie getting on?

 

[Ali P]

Well amazingly today she finally showed some real improvement after 5 days off veg with meds/cc/probiotics/massage ( I asked for metoclopramide too) ...she had been better but still very gassy but fingers crossed she will continue to improve now. I am very slowly reintroducing veg . Do you think I should stop all meds or just tail them off gradually?

 

[Abi_nurse]

Glad to hear she's making improvements. I would trailor off gradually as she is making improvements rather than stopping completely.

 

[Shania]

My piggie had bloat on Wed night ( 3 days ago). I managed it overnight with infacol and massage. Saw the vet in the morning who put her on birp 0.5ML 4 times a day.( similar to infacol but for cows...apparently it has worked brilliantly on other pigs). Also metacam 0.3ml and cisapride 0.1ml both twice a day . She is only on hay now and after a slight improvement and reduction in gas she has now plateaued .She id happy in herself ad pooping etc ,. She wheeking alot for veg yesterday but is bit quieter today. I think she is a bit depressed but the lack of veg and constant medication regime. Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of the gas. I am getting desperate!

Hii.. I dont usually give my poggies hay, only pellets and vegies because hay isnt easily accessible in my country. And 3 days ago, they couldnt walk and were having pain when pooping. But my mum just contacted a foreigner, and she might get hay tomorrow. Will my piggies get better with hay and probiotics? Also, there is NO exotic and guinea pig vet here. I already went to 6 vets who have nooooo experience in guinea pigs to the point that they think that small hard poops are healthy, which isnt... So od really appreciate the help
Thanks a lot

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hii.. I dont usually give my poggies hay, only pellets and vegies because hay isnt easily accessible in my country. And 3 days ago, they couldnt walk and were having pain when pooping. But my mum just contacted a foreigner, and she might get hay tomorrow. Will my piggies get better with hay and probiotics? Also, there is NO exotic and guinea pig vet here. I already went to 6 vets who have nooooo experience in guinea pigs to the point that they think that small hard poops are healthy, which isnt... So od really appreciate the help
Thanks a lot

@Shania - we are helping you on your own thread which you have started.